If someone told you today that you could leave what you are doing while still getting your paycheck, what would you do? Do you want to not feel this way and focus on making money from your passion? But found yourself at the crossroads, not knowing where to begin, how can you go about making money from your passion or even before that, how to find your passion, that one thing that drives you with a purpose?
Boundaries of a larger society, and the status quo of your inner circles, shape your lives to a major extent. Growing up you visualize your journey similar to your friends or siblings, or what your parents have been telling you about. A B.Tech or MBA degree followed by a job that gives security for life is a typical path for many.
But in the end, there is no feeling of fulfillment or sense of purpose for many individuals. It feels like everything is in repeat mode. Nothing makes you passionate.
Does this sound familiar to you?
In the immortal words of Steve Jobs, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle…Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
How To Find Your Passion?
Your passion could be anything, something unexplored, or something you have been doing but never thought of as a medium to earn money or your current job. Yes, your current job could be your passion too and you may have lost your way.
For the job thing, the easiest way is to distinguish whether you are in it for the money or for the role it offers, providing excellent learning, and building substantial potential so one day, it can unfold an opportunity for you in that role. If it’s the latter, then your current role may be your passion but maybe you have just fallen out of love with your employer and all you need is to either find a challenging employer to be the wind underneath your wings or you could try freelancing for some clients on the side. But if your current role is not providing that sense of purpose to you then the way out is to explore your interests outside of work.
Your passion could be one of the interests that you ardently pursue or try to pursue. Or in the hobbies that bring you personal joy. And the key to ‘How to find your passion‘ could lie in making time for pursuing those interests or hobbies. Because the more you get your hands on them, the more you get to know your passion and the better you get at it.
Turning Your Passion into Paycheck:
Before we get to the steps let’s address some concerns that many of you doing the job may have.
- Can you combine your passion and your career?
- Can your passion get you the same or a bigger paycheck than your job?
- Should you turn your passion into profit?
Yes. Many have done it and it’s proven to be a great way forward for them. But it depends on how you assess your personal, professional, and financial goals.
That said, leaving your current job is optional in case you are not sure of your passion or how much of a big paycheck it can get you. However, you should strive towards a positive change in your career, one that you are passionate about.
Best Ways To Make Money From Your Passion:
Whether you are doing it part-time, full time or freelance, here are the steps on how to make money doing what you love:
1. Talk More About Your Passion
Turning your passion into paychecks means you need to start talking about your passion, on LinkedIn, on your resumes, and across your online activities. Sharing it as much as possible, to as many people as possible, will only get you closer to your goals. Also, if more people talk about you, your chances of getting inbound leads will increase for you.
2. Start Doing More of It, For Free If Need Be
Offer to volunteer your services on LinkedIn (or other relevant platforms) and as and when people ask for it, you never know what it may get you in return. For example, if your passion is content writing, you’ll want to write a lot of posts, and blogs may be before you can attempt to charge for it. The more you write, the more fluent and efficient you get into it, also decreasing the time taken to master a piece. You can contribute articles to platforms like neveropen, online magazines, or even take up an internship to grow.
While doing that, you also get to create a portfolio of your projects that you can show to your future clients/employer.
3. Assess the Demand and Put a Value on Your Supply
Before you start making money from your passion, first, you need to know what you need to sell or provide service and second, you will have to determine its demand in the market (what do people pay for it, where is the most amount of need for it).
Once this is well assessed then you create a plan for yourself, defining your strategy on how you will reach the demand and what will ask for in return for your supply of product or service.
In the gig economy, we are living today, it’s easier than ever to make money doing what you love. You can sign up on platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr to get started. It will help you to understand the rates others are charging and when you are ready, you can list yourself as the service provider too.
4. Set Goals For Yourself
Turning your passion into paychecks probably means taking a real risk for you to get your dreams to fruition. Although, if you are investing your time and energy into it, you should set goals for yourself as to – when you want to take it full-time or start charging for it, based on how much you want as your monthly paycheck. Do not limit yourself in any way.
If you are struggling, you can always work with a coach who can help you take the initial steps.
5. It’s Okay To Start Small But Be Open To Taking Risks
Get yourself a big client or a small one with a big project, and try your hands at various industries and their projects. You can take your time getting acclimatized initially, it’s okay to take baby steps, but it’s all working for you in the long run.
Making money from your passion is a blessing for many and is a different journey for each one. There are no right or wrong ways to go about it, as long as you are doing what you love. Do not miss out on the opportunity thinking it’s too tough or not meant for you. You deserve to follow your passion and turn your passion into a paycheck.
It takes courage, but there should not be any regrets later that you didn’t even give it a try. And since you are reading this blog, you have already taken your first step toward your passion-led life. Now take the next!
